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Can Virtual Classrooms Recreate a Traditional College Experience?

The burgeoning online education scene is a practical option to a traditional college education for a number of reasons — cost, convenience and efficiency. And for professors it offers a consistent classroom format.

A number of online education sites say the goal is not to be a substitute for the classroom experience, but to offer an even more collaborative learning environment, while also making education convenient and accessible for everyone — whether you're taking a couple college courses or learning for the fun of it. In light of recent news about a partnership between a California state school and an online education site, it's possible that because of the high cost of education, online learning could become the norm for college students.

But can an online classroom teach you the social and collaborative skills that real-life, in-class experiences impart?

Mashable recently covered the big news that San Jose State University in California was implementing three new online courses for freshmen. Granted, it is a limited trial in partnership with online education platform Udacity, but it's the state's first partnership that could lead to an official online program in all California state schools. In a school system where four courses is a full course load (12 credits), freshmen could take three of their four (or more) courses online and, perhaps, lose out on the typical college experience.

Dr. Katherine Cohen, CEO and founder of IvyWise, spoke to Mashable for the article about SJSU's online classes and said MOOC (massive open online courses) give students who may never have been able to consider college access to university classes. But, she allowed, "there's certainly something to be said for the college experience. College is where students build their social and professional networks, ones they will rely upon throughout the rest of their lives. Students living on campus also tend to mature much more quickly, as they take on new responsibilities and maintain a new level of independence."

On the other hand, students without the budget for a typical college education, or students who don't want to go into copious amounts of debt, working students or students with children might benefit from taking college courses online.

Alison Johnston, CEO of InstaEDU, an online tutoring platform, tells Mashable the industry-wide dilemma for those in online education is getting people to complete the course.

She said there have been numerousreports about people not completing MOOCs in particular. Johnson says to overcome this hurdle, companies in this space will have to offer an online experience to make web-based education have all the features of a real-life college education. On a side note: others have countered that MOOC dropout rates are high because the bar is low to enter the programs and many people sign-up, some without a strong intent to even take the course. Also, the college-level coursework weeds out a lot of people.

"In the real world, you have the teacher, the TA and fellow classmates," she says. "I think you're going to see companies come in and fill this space."

Sites like Coursera are the classroom and teacher; InstaEDU and other tutoring sites are the teacher's aide (TA); and sites like Piazza and OpenStudy act as virtual study groups, she explains.

Andrew Ng, the cofounder of Coursera, says they recognize that online education is not a replacement for the real classroom experience, "which is extremely valuable beyond knowledge sharing for reasons of social interaction, one-on-one learning and more."

He sees their service as an alternative to not having higher education at all, which is a reality for many people due to their location, budget or job. And also as an enhancement to on-campus learning that complements traditional classroom formats. Still, the site tries to offer as many personal interactions among its users as possible. Coursera has nearly 2,000 in-person meet-up groups; professors on the site are also known to host these groups from time to time.

"For the most part, online-based education is equivalent [to a traditional college education]. Students can learn in either setting," Cathy Sandeen, vice president for education attainment and innovation at the American Council on Education (ACE), tells Mashable.

Online courses are not going to be exactly like real-life courses, Sandeen says. But most college students are not, in reality, how we picture the typical college student. Only 25% of university students are in their late teens to early twenties and entered college right after high school. The remander participate at other times in their lives, making online courses convenient.

And the online class model mirrors today's work environment, she adds, with groups from around the country or world working together online.

MOOC classes can also provide an in-person experience. Sandeen said she recently took a MOOC course with 30,000 students from all over the world. There were enough students in the course that regional study groups were formed.

"It doesn't have to be an either/or," she adds. "What we're seeing is a lot of traditional institutions incorporating online classes."

It seems online classes, particularly MOOC classes, have a high drop-out rate, but for students who appreciate the convenience and cost, online courses could open doors to a college education.

How would you like to see online education woven into the traditional college education setting? Tell us in the comments.

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